ROBOTS: Should A Robot Be Allowed To Kill?

Flash Forward

Flash Forward Presents

Science

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2021

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today we travel to a future where militaries employ killer robots. Should a robot be allowed to take a human life? Is the speed of war increasing too quickly? What does a tech worker do when they find out their work is being used for war? Guests: Kelsey Atherton, a reporter who covers military technology. Ryan Calo, a professor of law at the University of Washington. Dr. Ryan Jenkins, an associate professor of philosophy at California Polytechnic State University. Liz O’Sullivan, the CEO of Parity. Dr. Lucy Suchman, a professor emerita of sociology at Lancaster University. Dr. Jesse Kirkpatrick, an assistant professor of philosophy at George Mason University. Dr. Carlotta Berry, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Kate Conger, a technology reporter at the New York Times. Voice Actors: Rachael Deckard: Richelle Claiborne Chad: Brett Tubbs Lina: Ashley Kellem Brad: Brent Rose Halimah: Zahra Noorbakhsh Malik: Henry Alexander Kelly Summer: Shara Kirby Ashoka: Anjali Kunapaneni Eliza: Chelsey B Coombs Dorothy Levitt: Tamara Krinsky John Dee: Keith Houston Seargent William Walter: Jarrett Sleeper → → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is hosted by, Rose Eveleth and produced by Julia Llinas Goodman. The intro music is by Asura and the outro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Mattie Lubchansky. Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] Support the show: Patreon // Donorbox Subscribe: iTunes // Soundcloud // Spotify Episode Sponsors: The Long Time Academy: A new podcast about time, and how we think about time. Bird Note Daily: A short, 2-minute daily dose of bird -- from wacky facts, to hard science, and even poetry. Nature: The leading international journal of science. Get 50% off your yearly subscription when you subscribe at go.nature.com/flashforward. BetterHelp: Making professional therapy accessible, affordable, and convenient. Visit betterhelp.com/flashforward and get 10% off your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Flash Forward. I'm Rose and I'm your host. Flash Forward is a show about
0:14.7	the future. Every episode we take on a specific possible or sometimes not quite so possible
0:21.1	future scenario. We always start with a little field trip into the future to check out what is
0:26.0	going on and then we teleport back to today to talk to experts about how that world that we just
0:32.5	heard might actually go down. Got it? Great. Just a quick note, this episode is about war and does
0:40.1	include descriptions of violence and death. This episode we're starting in the year 2042.
1:01.8	Good evening and welcome to X marks the bot.
1:05.6	Last time team X stunned the competition with the perfect shooting and team double trouble was
1:12.7	sent home for adding one too many horses to the party. Tonight in the second round of our four
1:18.9	part competition the remaining teams will have to build a robot that can overcome death itself.
1:25.7	It's time for some botty building. John you set this challenge what are the contestants up to
1:34.0	tonight. Tonight your challenge is to design a robotic combat medic.
1:41.4	This is why people hate robots because they're used by horrible militaries in war.
1:47.2	Our team is all about peace and love man so building something that can heal people.
1:53.8	Feel like that's right at our alley. After your robot is completed it will be put through a
1:59.2	series of tests. First the roll test combat situations can involve rough terrain,
2:05.5	loose gravel and other obstacles. Second the stitch test one of the key skills for any medic
2:12.2	is stitching up open wounds on the battlefield to prevent infection. Your robot must exhibit the
2:18.3	dexterity to sew up a gaping wound on our crash test dummy while being pelted with rubber bullets.
2:25.5	Okay maybe this is gonna be harder than we thought. I'm looking around at all the other teams and
2:31.7	they all look freaked out. But I feel like we have a secret weapon here because Chad actually
2:37.5	used to be in the military. I mean technically yes I was a chef. I know how to cook for the military
	...

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